Opinions Please

Jallan

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
How would you guys handle this.

Drunk loud guy at end of bar pipes up when I walk in. I know him well enough. He knows I like to gamble. He also knows I'm not going to lay out a ton of money unless I think I have the best of it.

DLG: Hey lets play one game of 9 ball for 100.

Me: Lets play a race to 3 for 100.

DLG: No, just one game. To scared to play one game?

Me: How about post up and play 3 games for 100 a game?

DLG: No, just one.

This guy plays bad.... really bad. Can't string 3 balls bad. But, I hate going into one game with the chance of something freak happening. Guess I want to lock it up.

For reference, 100 for this room is a decent bet, and a large one for me. Insert your own dollar amount.

Do I play the game, especially if I know that I can cut the action up with a couple others?

Or, do I keep working him to get the set?

Or, to I tell him 300 a game, see if he bites, and cut the action up?

I think I would win 85-90% of the time against him. The loss would be due to me hanging a nine or getting out of line and haveing to shoot a tough shot, not because he is going to get out from anywhere.

Sorry for the long post.

Thanks.
 
How would you guys handle this.

Drunk loud guy at end of bar pipes up when I walk in. I know him well enough. He knows I like to gamble. He also knows I'm not going to lay out a ton of money unless I think I have the best of it.

DLG: Hey lets play one game of 9 ball for 100.

Me: Lets play a race to 3 for 100.

DLG: No, just one game. To scared to play one game?

Me: How about post up and play 3 games for 100 a game?

DLG: No, just one.

This guy plays bad.... really bad. Can't string 3 balls bad. But, I hate going into one game with the chance of something freak happening. Guess I want to lock it up.

For reference, 100 for this room is a decent bet, and a large one for me. Insert your own dollar amount.

Do I play the game, especially if I know that I can cut the action up with a couple others?

Or, do I keep working him to get the set?

Or, to I tell him 300 a game, see if he bites, and cut the action up?

I think I would win 85-90% of the time against him. The loss would be due to me hanging a nine or getting out of line and haveing to shoot a tough shot, not because he is going to get out from anywhere.

Sorry for the long post.

Thanks.

Bad bet walk away, or pull out a $100 and a coin and offer to flip for it, if he declines pick up your money laugh at the guy and walk away.
 
He knows I like to gamble.

This guy plays bad.... really bad. Can't string 3 balls bad.

ok these two statements don't make much sense

if you like to gamble... then gamble..

if you won't play because there is a tiny chance you might lose... you are not gambling

if you are that scared of a banger....

you are a banger.

take the money and spend it on a lesson....

just sayin...
 
One game is BS, in general. Keep passing...tell him you came to the pool hall to play pool and one game ain't it.

Tell him to post a few games and he's got action.
 
ok these two statements don't make much sense

if you like to gamble... then gamble..

if you won't play because there is a tiny chance you might lose... you are not gambling

if you are that scared of a banger....

you are a banger.

take the money and spend it on a lesson....

just sayin...

I've never seen a pool player that liked to gamble....

We just like to win money.

What if the banger wins the flip, and snaps in the 9? That's a lousy way to lose. That's why we play sets.

There is no way I would have taken that bet, but if the guy wanted to play a race to 3 or 5 for the same money, I would have JUMPED out of my chair.
 
What if he didn't want to gamble at all?

What if he was just trying to make himself look like a big shot? So he offers up a game to you which he knows you will not take.

Now see how it looks? It looks like he is some big gambler and the whole room saw it.

I don't know this guy. It's just a possibility.

matta
 
You keep pushing for the set until you are completely sold that he won't play the set. Then come back and say you will play the one game but the 9 has to be made last no 9 on the break or combo shots. Then if you are completely sold that he won't play that way you take him up on his original offer because you have a very high percentage chance of winning. If you lose you are likely to get action back but even if you don't you will know that you made a bet where you were the heavy favorite.

You probably weren't going to be the heavy favorite betting against others with the same money.
 
Even a race to 3 is a game where anything may happen. You may have the best of it, you say you play better than him, but still, it's too short a race.
 
Take the bet

Take the bet or turn it around on him and tell him you will play him one game for two to five hundred. You like to gamble, gamble.

If you are a smart gambler you are thousands ahead. Why be scared of risking losing $100? If you win you get another hundred. If you lose he will get greedy and want to try it again if he is really a drunken loud mouth.

What I recommend when folks want to play loud mouthed games and think they are barking BS they won't get called on is to take the bet exactly as offered then they are the one that has to fish or cut bait. He thinks you won't take the bet now so he is feeling brave. Grin and jump on it telling him you have just been waiting for the right day and watch him shrivel.

Hu
 
It seemed nobody last night wanted to gamble last night and it was probably a good thing they just re-covered the tables at the place I shoot at and the tables play like ICE and I love those conditions . I think they were more afraid of how slick the tables where .
 
I think I would win 85-90% of the time against him.

I would think this is your answer. If you cant afford to take bets with this kind of edge then the amount is too much regardless of type of game. IMO
 
How would you guys handle this.

Drunk loud guy at end of bar pipes up when I walk in. I know him well enough. He knows I like to gamble. He also knows I'm not going to lay out a ton of money unless I think I have the best of it.

DLG: Hey lets play one game of 9 ball for 100.

Me: Lets play a race to 3 for 100.

DLG: No, just one game. To scared to play one game?

Me: How about post up and play 3 games for 100 a game?

DLG: No, just one.

This guy plays bad.... really bad. Can't string 3 balls bad. But, I hate going into one game with the chance of something freak happening. Guess I want to lock it up.

For reference, 100 for this room is a decent bet, and a large one for me. Insert your own dollar amount.

Do I play the game, especially if I know that I can cut the action up with a couple others?

Or, do I keep working him to get the set?

Or, to I tell him 300 a game, see if he bites, and cut the action up?

I think I would win 85-90% of the time against him. The loss would be due to me hanging a nine or getting out of line and haveing to shoot a tough shot, not because he is going to get out from anywhere.

Sorry for the long post.

Thanks.

play the one game, the drunk might go off
 
How would you guys handle this.

Drunk loud guy at end of bar pipes up when I walk in. I know him well enough. He knows I like to gamble. He also knows I'm not going to lay out a ton of money unless I think I have the best of it.

DLG: Hey lets play one game of 9 ball for 100.

Me: Lets play a race to 3 for 100.

DLG: No, just one game. To scared to play one game?

Me: How about post up and play 3 games for 100 a game?

DLG: No, just one.

This guy plays bad.... really bad. Can't string 3 balls bad. But, I hate going into one game with the chance of something freak happening. Guess I want to lock it up.

For reference, 100 for this room is a decent bet, and a large one for me. Insert your own dollar amount.

Do I play the game, especially if I know that I can cut the action up with a couple others?

Or, do I keep working him to get the set?

Or, to I tell him 300 a game, see if he bites, and cut the action up?

I think I would win 85-90% of the time against him. The loss would be due to me hanging a nine or getting out of line and haveing to shoot a tough shot, not because he is going to get out from anywhere.

Sorry for the long post.

Thanks.

I hear you loud and clear. Been in that same spot before. I'm like you. Even if I KNOW I have the best of it, one game of 9-Ball is too short. If he refuses to play a Race To Three just tell him he wins that bet, you'll pass. I've never had a problem passing on a game, if I feel funny about it.

One quick story. In my last poolroom, I was the best player unless a roadman came in. Some of my regulars often tried to make games with me and beat me. Just to say they beat Jay. They knew I would give them weight.

One time this guy who is a plumber by trade and regular player comes in and offers to play me one game for $50 if I give him the 8 and the Break. I tell him how about three out of five (Race To Three). No, only one game he says. Finally I give him the game and lose. He offers me double or nothing. I lose again. Now I'm getting frustrated. I should be able to give this guy much more weight than this, but he's getting lucky with the wild 8. Okay, we play double or nothing again and naturally I lose. I'm steaming now. I play him one last time and lose again. I'm stuck $400! I tell him I'll play him a race to three for it. He refuses, smiling. I told him I'd played his way, now he should play mine. Nothing doing he says, and offers me one more shot at double or nothing. I pass.

For once in my life I don't want to pay the guy. I stalled him all day and finally made him come back the next day to get paid. I stayed mad about that for weeks. Lesson to you - DON'T PLAY if you don't like the game!
 
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play the one game, the drunk might go off


And Chris is right about this too. I've seen it happen. Once a guy gets his nose open, sometimes they just don't quit until they've blown all the money on them.

Another little story. I played a guy $5 9-Ball once and started right off winning. Game after game, and he was paying me every two games. I kept figuring he was going to quit at any time. Finally after he had lost about ten games in a row he says "I'm playing you until I win a game." Now I had some real incentive to keep winning. He lost about 25 games before he finally got lucky on a combination. And then he quit!
 
IMHO, if he was drunk and you beat him 85% of the time, he was just woofing.....methinks he would have backed down....

Also, with those odds, why not???

If you are worried about losing on the break, just offer to play 10-ball....

If you are worried about him winning the first game, then counter $100 a game with a three game minimum....

If he really did wanna go, you left money on the table last night...

You could have even just said, I only got $50, wanna play for that.....cut the bet, that gives him and you another barrel....
 
Thanks to all; a lot of good points.

It's not that I don't want the gamble, I just want to lock it up into somthing a little more concrete. He isn't going to go off and I think those of you who said he would walk if I bit are right. I'll get it taken care of, Thanks again.
 
Bad bet walk away, or pull out a $100 and a coin and offer to flip for it, if he declines pick up your money laugh at the guy and walk away.
I've seen this many times over the years, most of these guys will say "just kidding" if you accept the bet, even if they do accept it is a smart move on their part because it gives them the best chance. I agree, if you love to gamble that much, cause thats exactly what it would be, then just flip a coin or play the game. In my day I would have played the game. One game of last pocket 8 ball back in 1983 for 1K, of course being $1800.00 up didn't hurt either, now thats gambling!!!
 
I agree, if you love to gamble that much, cause thats exactly what it would be, then just flip a coin or play the game.



You can keep flipping coins if you want to. I prefer the extra value the 85%-90% to win holds.
 
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